Safety latch for bank vaults



Feb. 26, 1929.

J. COON' SAFETY LATCH FOR BANK VAULTS Filed Dec. 19, 1927 the vault door .is locked for the night.

Patented Feb. 26,1929.

woiv'zr. mm, or nvnxs'ron, ILLINOIS.

snrm'z Lemon r03, mun: Um,

mam mm mm 0. 921. Seriallie were The latch of the present invention is designed as an improvement on the latch set forth in my application, Serial No. 2035046, filed July 2, 1927. The latch of the present invention is designed to prevent the complete closing of a bank vault door by rob bers, so that bank oflicials who may be confined within the vault will notbe in danger of suffocation. llhe latch. is so arranged that in .an emergency, when the door is swung to, it will be latched and held ajar, so that thereafter the intruders can neither Open or close the door,

'lhe -=improvements which particularly form the subject lnatter of the present invention refer to the means provided for automatically setting [or conditioning .thelatch against an emergency when the door 1s opened by the bank ofiicials in the morning. Tllhis feature is .of importance by reason of the f c tha withou it there is dang th ug inat entien'on the part of bank employees that the latch may remain in disabled condition in which it is adjusted when In the drawings: v Figure {l is a face view of a vault .door and casingloolzing from .the inside, and with the latch thrown;

Fig. 2 is an .el larged sectional detail of the latch position the door;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the latch;

F 4 is a fragmentary perspective View .of the door-and casing illustrating the means for setting the latch the opening of :the

' point 23 is flat while the rear upper face @1001; end

Fig. ,5 s a-idfiteil in section showing'a niotlifiCation in Which the latch ,member is mounted upon the casing rather than upon -yijl16 door. f-

The device 1s applied to a vaultidoor 510; of the usual character having near its mar-.

gin on theinner side a bolt rail 11 which extends across near the top of the door in the The flange funnishes a form of a top rail 12 upon which the latch 1.3 of the present. nvention is mounted. As

shown, the vault door is surrounded by a casing which includes a plate 14, the lower edge of which extends below the level .of'the door opening and cons itutes in effect a flange with which the .latch of the present invention foo-acts.

shoulde or shutment againstwfhich the rim of the door will swing when the vdoor is complete y los The latch the ypneseat invention comgroo e and thus lim ts the -the top rail. a

41m wi h e:

prises a mounting block 15 whieh may be of v the square forinatiQll shown, or any other desired formation, andthe block rests upon and is secured' to the top rail 12 preferably at .a po nt near the free edge of the door.,

The mountingb'lock serves as e rimming for a latch member 16,, which, as shown, 1S of. cylindrical formation and is slidab y mounted within a cylindrical bore 17, a1

though the latch member might be e f-square or other formation and mounted Within a bore .of corresponding shape,

Thelatch member is normally held in ole vatod position by the .action of a .coilspring 18 which occupies a position within the shor immediately beneath .the latch member, and in order to prevent the latch member from be ngejected upwardly from the bore by the tension of {the spring, a pair of .co-acting screw st s 19 and 20 n ce provided, 1,3116 former of w ich is carried by the latch member the latter Iby the'. block. The latch ".znember is provided in its forward face with a groove 21 into whichthe stop 19 rejects "to flmnish ,a closure for the lower en of the groove, while the ,stop20 projects into the ward {m -vemer t of ithc member a, .ter its upper end has been rmected to a distance approxmatelyequa to the depth of the shoulder fu nished by the flange '14.

"The latch member .isrprovided in itsend with ya cross slot 22 of adepthand width to engage the flange 14., and the .u er face of the latch member forwardly o the slot at 24 is beveled, as indicated, and terminates in ,a knife edge 25, which is slightly-lower than the edge'of the face 22 on the forward nuts 28 hearing against the lower face of r In order to disable the 'latch memb r. by holding its acting, face below, a position where-si will ngage with h flang 1%, a

pair o reg tering h e 2 and 3011B P130 'v ded, r p ctive y; n the latch ,xmmher'an the l k, and y d nr ssing the amb her :until the hole me br f h into r giste an by insert ng .a 22 th v n 0 comflange-like against the tension of the spring 18 until mission, which will permit the vault door to be completely closed for bolting or otherwise.

In order to provide against carelessness or inattention on the part of bank employees in opening the door in the morning, the pin 31 has attached thereto a chain or similar connection 32 the opposite end of which is connected to the plate let or other fixed portion of the casing, so that as the door is swung in opening, the chain connection or the like will be drawn taut, as in Fig. 4', and the pin automatically with drawn from the registering holes 29 and 30 thereby releasing the latch member and conditioning it against an emergency.

Figure shows a modification especially designed for heavy doors in which the latch is mounted on the inner edge of the casing 33 in position for the latch member 34: to engage with a recess 35 in the edge of the door, the door edge in this instance being beveled, so that the inner lip of the recess vill stand higher than the outer lip to insure engagement against the latch member when the door is swung ajar. In this case the chain 32 will be connected to the door.

In use, the latch member will normally project above the top of the block, as indicated in the drawings, and if, in these circumstances, the vault door be swung closed, the beveled rear face 24 of the latch member will engage with the flange 14 or other projection and be depressed the knife edge'25 clears the rear edge of the flange, which will permit the latch member to spring upwardly into position to bring the slot 22 in position to engage and embrace the edge of the flange. The knife edge being somewhat lower in position than the forward portion of the latch memher, the latch member cannot thus be depressed su'liiciently to prevent the forward portion of the latch member from engaging withtheflange thus preventing a full closing of the door. When, however, it is desired to permit such full closing, the latch member can be thrust downwardly and held by the insertion of the disabling pin, which will then permit the latch device of the present invention to swing clear beneath the flange and permit the door to be closed. to its fullest extent, which, in the construction indicated, will bring the edge of the door 10 into abutment with the flange 14;.

'lhe-length of the chain connection 32 may be made suflicient to permit a proper nianipulation of the attached pin 81 from the outside of the door for disabling the latch prior to the closing of the door for the night. However, the chain will be so attached to the door casing that when the pin is drawn out and the chain falls back within the door casing, it will be concealed, or practically so, against observation from without, and this fact, in conjunction with the fact that the latch itself is in a concealed position on the door, will make it impossible for intruders to detect the presence of the safety appliance of the present invention, which is important in that it prevents intruders from being forewarned which would otherwise enable them to disable the latch before imprisoning the bank employees within the vault.

lVith the door partly closed and latched, it will be impossible from without to either open or close the door, and, at the same time, a crack or crevice will be maintained around the door, so that anyone confined inside the vault will not be in danger of suil'ocation. The doormay be easily opened from within by pressing down upon the exposed beveled surface 2% ofthe latch member with a tool or with the fingers, where conditions will permit, but an effort to press down and release the latch from the outsidemay easily be frustrated by thrusting the pin into the hole which will preventthe latch member from being depressed sufliciently to clear the flange 14. V

The device is one which is of extremely simple construction, and, at the same time, when proportioned and mounted with due regard to the range of movementsrequired to ensure a proper functioning of the parts is intended.

Although the construction of the latch has been described with particularity, and although the latch, as shown, is mounted upon the door,which is the preferred-construction, rather than upon the casing, it is not the intention to limitthe invention to a latch of the particular form shown, or mounted in the manner specified, since the means employed for automatically restoring the latch to effective operation by the opening of the vault door, are of more general application,

so that it will be understood that the con-1 struction and arrangement may be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim: Y

1. In a safety latch of the character de- SUl'llK-Kl, in combination with a door and door casing, a latch secured to the door in proximity to the edge thereof and provided with a latch member adapted to co-actwith a portion of the casing to hold the door a iar, disabling meansadapted when inserted to hold the latch against operation, and a flexible connction. between said disabling means and the door casing for withdrawing said disabling means upon the opening of the door to restore the latch to operative condition, substantially as described.

2. In a safety latch of the character dev will constitute an efiicient safeguard under 7 the conditions of use for which the device partially closed position, disabling -means adapted when set to hold the latch member in depressed position, and means actuated by the opening of the door for retracting the disabling means to recondition the latch for effective operation, substantially as described. v

8. In a safety latch of the character described, in combination'with a door anddoor, casing and a member projecting inwardly from the door casing, a latch block secured to the door in proximity to the edge thereof, a latch member yieldably mounted within the latch block and having anacting face configured to engagewith and be depressed bythe projecting member and to re-engage therewith under tension to hold the door in partially closed position, disabling means adapted when set to hold the latch member in depressed position, and a connection between said disabling means and the door casing for retracting said disabling means upon the openin of the door to reposition thelatch for efi ective operation, substantially as described. v

4. In a safety latch of the character described, in combination with a door and door w casing and a member projecting inwardly from the door casing, a latch block secured to thedoor in proximity to the edge thereof, a latch member yieldably mounted within the latch block and having an acting face configured to engage with and be depressed by the projecting member and to rel-engage therewith under tension'to hold the door in partially closed position, vdisabling means in theform of a pin adapted to be inserted through thelatch block and into the latch member tohold the latter in depressed position, and a connection between said disab-- ling pin and the door casing for withdrawing the pin upon the opening of the door to restore the latch to effective operation, substantially as described.

I HORTON J. COON. 

